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Matt Palidoro, whose cousin owns a dog bakery and keeps him supplied with treats for his officemates, says, “The dogs are a huge perk on the job. If you see two dogs playing with each other, you can decompress easily.”

This group seems to function on some kind of organic, village-like level, with everyone looking out for and being somewhat involved in raising the “village’s” dogs. For example, it’s easy for the dog people to ask colleagues to handle an occasional dog-sitting stint. So many of the non-dog owners, including correspondent Wyatt Cenac, have stories about times they hosted one of the dogs while their people were out of town. Talk about a benefit!

All in all, as Tim Greenberg describes it, “This is a giant dog playground. The dogs run around, and there are at least eight to 10 treat stations throughout the office. Ally’s got her own schedule of things she does. She gets exercise running up and back. The only thing that would make it better is if there were grass and squirrels [inside].”

Coda
After a long day taking in the sights and sounds of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart dog-land, moving from cubicle to cubicle, I felt as though I were blending into the landscape, becoming like one of the free-range dogs. As the day ended, I was pleased to be invited into the office of The Man himself. (Stewart’s two French Bulldogs, Smudge and Barkley, were not there, being not quite ready for primetime.) Stewart seemed not to notice that dogs had infiltrated the office — he said he thought “they were interns who were lying around on the floor,” and he “assumed they just getting college credit” for their work. I quipped, “but you rub their tummies, I hope.” He retorted, “Well, I like to treat our interns with respect.” I also apologized for any dog-paw scratches he might notice on his studio desk, which we used for the photo session. Graciously, he claimed that he, too, was an avowed desk scratcher.

Who, after all, could blame the dogs for anything? In Stewart’s opinion, all the dogs there are “really the cream of the crop, all have been to military school, their behavior is impeccable, their manners are impeccable, their English is impeccable.” Plus, “Who doesn’t love the dogs?” There is nothing better than dogs, and they bring out the best in us too. Nothing better. Confirming my observation that everyone has a ball here, he added that, “obviously we’ll take you to the reptile room after this.”

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Special Award
Enlightened companies know that success starts with smiling employees and, need we say it, smiling dogs. For its open-dog-door policy and pride in its canine workforce’s accomplishments, we bestow The Bark’s First Annual (and first-ever) Best Place to Work Award on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.